The present invention relates to the mounting of snow removal equipment on rail vehicles and, in particular, to apparatus permitting the side to side shifting of the equipment in front of the vehicle.
When cleaning heavily snow-covered rights-of way, it is a known requirement that the path be cleared wider on the inside of a curve than on the outside. However, when long trains, or long cars, are employed, lateral sweeping of the snow along the snow wall on the inner curve is to be avoided.
In German Pat. No. 2,034,508 there is illustrated a rail vehicle equipped with snow removal apparatus comprising two snow blowers mounted independently of each other and displaceable horizontally outward from the central longitudinal axis of the vehicle, so that each snow blower moves from the center line outwardly to either the right or left respectively. The use of this equipment, so that the snow blowers extend laterally from one side, presupposes that the distance between the snow blowers has first been cleared, with the snow blowers moved together and abutting each other, since otherwise an uncleaned central strip would remain barring movement of the vehicle. Thus, in order to clear the sides of the right way, the vehicle must make two passes over the same track, first to clear the center, and second to clear the sides. Further, since each of the snow blowers are independent there is provided two housings, each having an ejection stack. Consequently, no matter how the blowers are shifted, they impair the vision of the vehicle driver. Still further, each of the snow blowers is driven by its own motor; as a result, the snow blowing operation is affected at only half of the power relative to that available if they were driven directly from a drive source mounted on the vehicle itself.